Houses

LydiaJ

Patchwork_Quilt wrote: »

If you buy near a train station and a good school, your house will sell much more easily in a down turn. However, these houses are more expensive in the first place.

DH always says that you should buy the cheapest house in the most expensive street you can afford.

A few years ago they built a new comprehensive school half a mile or so from my parents' house. (Before then it was in a bit of a gap, with secondary schools quite some distance away in several directions.) The area is pleasant and reasonably affluent, so it's been easy for the school to build a good reputation, which it has done. It's done wonders for prices of houses in the area - I'd imagine it's added £50k to the price of my parents' house.

Beware, though, that this "good catchment = easier resale" thing only works for family houses. IIRC, there was someone the house buying forum a few months ago hoping that being in a good secondary catchment would help hold up the value of his one bed flat. I don't think so.

ETA I wouldn't worry about catchment if I was Cleaver, buying with no kids and no (current) intention of having any. But for me, with two primary age kids who'll be applying to secondary schools in a few years... yes, absolutely, secondary catchment is one of my priorities in looking for a house.

dopester

LydiaJ wrote: »

ETA I wouldn't worry about catchment if I was Cleaver, buying with no kids and no (current) intention of having any. But for me, with two primary age kids who'll be applying to secondary schools in a few years... yes, absolutely, secondary catchment is one of my priorities in looking for a house.

It always surprises me the premium some people are still willing to pay for a house in a good school catchment area.

The boom party years are over. I have my doubts as to whether the funding will remain for many a 'good school' to support what people still expect them to provide. Pressures on funding - bigger classroom sizes ect.

There is no doubt in my mind private school fees will fall significantly during the next few years. Even now I'd bet parents could push for a discount on the published fees at many a private school, and get it.

I'm just expecting many more private schools will open in many a town around the UK - even if they are smaller sized schools - providing high quality education, at lower costs, and taking a lot of the funding burden away from the state.

There will be a tremendous growth in private educational services, including for profit and non profit schools.

It is more likely than most people now imagine that public schools in the United States will more or less disappear.

Educational entrepreneurs will enjoy a rare opportunity to compete in providing effective elementary and secondary education to children.

Telepresence in the University

The advert of telepresence could have an impact in improving the quality and lowering the costs of university education. The availability of real-time, high-quality imagery and sound would enable universities to syndicate the best lecturers nationwide and even internationally. Literally be "on stage" practically anywhere the high-quality telepresence systems could be plugged in. This would enable universities to cut costs.

lostinrates

dopester wrote: »

There is no doubt in my mind private school fees will fall significantly during the next few years.

There have been threads referring to private schools before, and a conversation I had recently with a friend who is a teacher at a well respected private school made me wonder if I should dig one up....but then I didn't, so this will do. This school lost a few pupils, very quickly, in the crunch, and new entrants were a smaller number than in recent years, but requests for information areup, and they are, unusually, taking a significant number of new pupils in January (suggestting at the very least sentiment is more robust).

System

There's hope for you yet Cleaver - http://www.housepricecrash.co.uk/forum/index.php?showtopic=127620

LydiaJ

Small private schools are very vulnerable to quite minor fluctuations in pupil numbers. A few kids less can make a huge difference in income and almost no difference in costs, and can drive a small school to the wall surprisingly quickly. Bigger schools have slightly more flexibility on staffing, and of course they have economies of scale.

One big independent school I know of laid off several staff over the summer, and another one is having a general belt-tightening - some responsibilities shared out amongst all staff instead of given to a few people who are paid extra for it, departmental running budgets cut/frozen etc.

Interestingly, while in previous years the boarding sector has been the first to suffer, it's doing quite well this time. There may be some British parents economising by sending their kids to day schools instead (although quite a few are confident enough not to), but there are still plenty of Chinese and other nationalities with ample money to spend sending their offspring to be educated here.

Boarding education is really the ultimate export. Not only does it bring foreign money into the country in the form of fees, but all the transport costs are met by the overseas buyer, and it brings rich young foreigners over here with pocket money (and sometimes quite a lot of it) to spend in our shops.

michaels

Some of us don't believe our little darlings should only be educated with the 'special' people away from their plebeian peers...

lemonjelly

dopester wrote: »

It always surprises me the premium some people are still willing to pay for a house in a good school catchment area.

The boom party years are over. I have my doubts as to whether the funding will remain for many a 'good school' to support what people still expect them to provide. Pressures on funding - bigger classroom sizes ect.

I'm not surprised. What better & more rewarding investment will you ever be able to make in your life?

In my line of work, I've found that it is generally the cost that people least want to cut back on if they encounter money problems. I think this is because of a number of reasons - impact on the child & their education, timing, the factor of having invested this much this far, to potentially have that wiped out by pulling them out of private school, and how it would look to others. To me, the last one is the least important, however it is usually the point that sways most parents.

PS yes, great thread Cleaver, in a good spirit.
Not convinced thinking houses are overpriced is in the qualifying criteria to make you a bear, just honest?
On accents - I love accents! Hearing other accents generally gives me the horn! (sorry if this spoils your thread cleaver!)

silvercar

dopester wrote:

It always surprises me the premium some people are still willing to pay for a house in a good school catchment area.

Against private schoold fees of £10,000 per child per year, the premium looks small.

silvercar

The boom party years are over. I have my doubts as to whether the funding will remain for many a 'good school' to support what people still expect them to provide. Pressures on funding - bigger classroom sizes ect.

Class sizes become less crucial if every pupil is attentive, supported and wants to learn. Class sizes are crucial if the class is mixed ability and has a core element of disruptive pupils.

The difference between good schools and not good increases and the pressure to get a good state education for your child or go private increases.

silvercar

michaels wrote: »

Some of us don't believe our little darlings should only be educated with the 'special' people away from their plebeian peers...

Depends what you are offered. If you are offered a place at a decent-ish school with a mix of children, culturally, ability, and behaviourally then fine. If you are offered a school where the percentage of children getting 5 GCSEs is under 20%, where drugs and bullying are a part of school life, where some pupils upbringing makes them unable to act with any sense of normal social norms, your principles fly out of the window.

So if you know there is a definite possibility of you being assigned a sink school you look elsewhere to form a plan B. Having looked elsewhere, if you find a school that would suit your "little darling" so unbelievably well, you can easily decide that actually, even a place at what was the acceptable school, no longer feels attractive.